in this context, of course, “quick” means “alive” not “speedy,” as in:
- 1 Peter 4:5, KJV: “who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.”
- Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 1, Laertes: “Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead”
It’s just a good phrase anyway — esp. in modern English with the other meaning of “quick” adding some complexity, but I esp. like the Wikipedia entry which demonstrates how “quick” and “alive” are even related via Proto-Germanic and Proto-Indo-European (both are hypothetical language ancestors) word roots.
“quick” meant “living” or “alive” derives from the Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz, which was from the Proto-Indo-European base *gwiwo — “to live” (from which came the Latin vivere –> the Italian and Spanish viva, and one would assume, the English alive).
Other words I recently realized were related (makes sense but I hadn’t thought about it before): Caesar (from the Latin) –> Kaiser (in German) and Tsar/Czar (Russian).